The roadmap, which is reportedly current as of October 2011,
points to two new updates coming to Windows Phones in 2012. The
first is codenamed "Tango" and will be designed to work on
"products with the best prices." (Translation: Cheap phones with
low specs.) Tango is slated to be released in Q2 2012.

The next big update is codenamed "Apollo" and will be optimized
for high-end "superphones." That release is scheduled for Q4
2012.

It's pretty obvious what Microsoft is trying to do here. First
comes Tango, which will likely launch around the same time as the
new Nokia
Lumia 800 in the U.S., and the OS snaps up some much needed
marketshare by powering super cheap devices.

Then comes Apollo, which will power the latest and greatest
phones, likely dual or quad-core devices with tons of RAM, HD
screens, and all the other bells and whistles we see in premium
phones now.

Even more than a year after Windows Phone 7's introduction,
smartphones running the OS are underpowered compared to many
other high-end smartphones. It looks like Microsoft plans to keep
it that way through most of next year in order to keep its phones
affordable and attract more users. After that, it will start
battling the competition on hardware specs too.